Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide {my journey starts here}

My gym contract expired on Friday. It is something I knew was coming, but something I also feared. I knew I would not be able to renew my contract at this time, because I am currently trying to save up for three huge things. And fear, because I have sort of grown addicted to the gym – following my 12 kg weight shed – and I was not going back to the way I was before.

The first thing I have to save up for is rebuilding a wall and a wooden window at our house, after it almost burned down when a generator caught fire. Claiming from insurance was not an option as the excess would have been more than the claim itself.

That is the biggest thing. The second is an upcoming trip to Berlin, in September. Euros and rands are anything but friends at the moment, so just trying to buy a sparkling water will be equivalent there what a decent meal at a decent restaurant here in SA would be.

And finally is a trip to Cape Town over New Years, which I cannot be more excited about. I have never been in Cape Town in summer and also haven’t been there long enough to be a tourist, so I am out of my skin excited for this little endeavour.

Ah, the gym then. I thought about paying my monthly membership upfront, but at every single gym I went to in my area, it was R850 a month; ludicrous in itself and also reeking of a cartel. Will someone with some detective skills come and expose this? Thank you.

So, this finally lead me to moving my funds around and seeing the bright side in not having a gym contract – and thank you Keri for introducing me {and so many other South Africans} to this – but I got the Kayla Itsines guide. And oh my goodness, does it look like it is worth it, you just have to look at her instagram to see how amazing it is and get hooked. Firstly, it was less than the monthly gym membership and secondly – it runs for 12 weeks. SCORE! I also got a few friends to join in and we started a whatsapp group to encourage each other and have a place to complain about our sore muscles ;)

Side note: I am honestly struggling in myself {just thinking about it} about posting before and after pictures. So you and I will have to see if I actually document this journey of mine with pictures. I feel that, as a married woman, I don’t know if it is okay to share images of my body with people other than my husband – and close friends – and I also feel that I’m not going to be very modest if I do it. Also, nothing against women who have the confidence to do this, I have the urmost respect for you! But I guess it is a struggle I will have to figure out in the meantime. Maybe I could just wear pants instead of boy shorts.Or maybe I will only limit my progress pics to my instagram account? Follow me on @waitingformeg

I quite liked how Nikki over here categorised her journey with the guide – and call me an unoriginal blogger all you like – I thought I would use it to point out why I am doing this and what I am expecting of the guide.

What I Want To Achieve:

Last year, I went on a turn-around journey to get in shape and look amazing on my wedding day. I succeeded in losing 12 kilograms, which is a lot {for me anyways} – you can read about that story here – and although I lost all this weight, I was never really toned. I still had my stomach, which has always been a problem area and I still felt like I had big thighs. So, I am embarking on this twelve-week challenge to become hot-as-fuck. No jokes. I want to be toned as all hell. And look amazing in my bikini when I am prancing around in Camps Bay or Clifton. I mean, have you actually seen the people frequenting these beaches? It is like Adonis decided to live in CT and just have kids there. Also, I am sick and tired of always feeling so very self-conscious about my body and I feel that this guide will make me feel less so. Also, having to hear your whole life that you are less than average also makes me want to feel more than average.

Then there is little thing called pregnancy. No, I’m not pregnant yet, but I hope to be some day. And I have seen what pregnancy has done to girls my age – they become whole new {and by new, I mean 40 kg heavier} people – and quite frankly, I feel that I had to work so damn hard just to lose that 12 kg before my wedding that I don’t want to go through all this drama again after having my first kid. The fitter you are, the easier your body bounces back.

So yes, I am superficial as heck.

Side note: can you believe that people have actually asked me, and I kid you flippen not, why I haven’t picked up the weight again? Some are innocent, like how have you managed to keep the weight off? And others are seriously blatantly rude. This sounds like a rant. It isn’t. Not-rant over//

What to expect:

Kayla warns in her guide that you should at least have some degree of fitness when you decide to tackle her challenge. Luckily, I was a little gym fit and a little stairs fit – climbing six flights of stairs every day at work seems to help a little – and I was major into cardio – pushing myself to run at least 5 km every day {which people told me was such a bad thing to do} and then I got sick for a while and didn’t really gym as much as I used to, so I really am not in my best shape. I used to be able to do burpees with push-ups, now I can hardly do one push-up. So I hope to reach that level of fitness again.

But, yesterday was my first day of the guide and it was AWESOME! It was hard, yes, and I was out of breath and I was tired and today I am stiff, but I felt like I had achieved something already. I cannot wait to pack this challenge head on and coming out the best version of myself I have ever been. Here’s to being awesome! CHEERS!

..........................................

Top pic is Linn Lowes from FitnessDreams

..........................................

 ..........................................
 All other pictures is Kayla Itsines
..........................................